


He Tried to Breathe Again

by Zafona



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Freedom Fighters, Lake Laogai, M/M, Nightmares, Short One Shot, dying, freedom fighters weekend, life flashes before your eyes, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2181507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zafona/pseuds/Zafona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened under Lake Laogai must have been a nightmare. It certainly felt like a nightmare but despite hallucinations confirming it wasn't real, Jet had a hard time believing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Tried to Breathe Again

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Freedom Fighters Week on tumblr and figured I'd toss it up here.   
> Day 1 - Nightmares

_We’re not gonna leave you.”_   _Her voice was shaking and sounded broken. He tried to take in a breath but it wouldn’t come easily. It hurt._

_“There’s no time, just go. We’ll take care of him, he’s our leader.” Familiar yet not at all, a voice he hadn’t truly heard in a very long time. She didn’t look convinced; she wasn’t going to leave him there like that without his say so._

_“Don’t worry, Katara. I’ll be fine.” Jet offered a smile but he knew how he must’ve looked. His face stressed and his expression pained. It was scary, he was dying and it started to creep into his consciousness like a sickness. Things were blurred and he knew it was over._

_It was over._

_They left him and the other two, Smellerbee was crying and he heard the tug of a bow. He struggled to breathe again as she pet his hair, trying to comfort him. Jet closed his eyes and let the tears slip past his strong exterior, through the cracks and into the open. He tried to breathe again – this time it failed him. He choked and tried again, it was labored and strained but he managed to get air. He felt dizzy. Jet tried to breathe again-_

 

His eyes flashed open with the hard sound of an alarm clock; his heart racing and mouth open as he unconsciously gasped for air. Jet’s head rolled to the side to see the time, it was 7:45 in the morning, his alarm for school ringing loudly in his ears. Jet reached over and flicked the switch like his body was programmed to do, his pulse slowed as the nightmare drifted from his mind. Those people, that life, that world faded from his mind but it wouldn’t quite let go of him.

“Fuck…” he cursed under his breath as he pulled himself upright and flung his bare legs over the edge of his bed. Jet felt a yawn pull at the back of his throat and force his jaw to drop; a long, tired breath shuddered out of him as he stretched. He felt his back muscles pull, his arms and legs stiffening and relaxing as required. Jet pushed off the creaky spring-bed and wandered to his bathroom. As he walked he turned up the volume on his stereo, letting the upbeat pop station fill his room with music.

A bedroom in the basement was nice, he had his own floor (aside from the laundry machines) and it was like having his own apartment without the added rent. His bathroom wasn’t as nice as the one upstairs but that was okay, he didn’t need anything fancy as long as it worked. He showered and pulled on his clothes that almost seemed foreign to him but he blamed his sleepiness. It was the first time his jeans really felt odd, and almost too tight, movement was a big deal but maybe not today.

Jet thought nothing of the nightmare, it tugged at his mind but he was too tired to let it get to him. It didn’t hit him hard until he heard his mom upstairs. Flashes of a town burning hit his memory and the screams he heard, his mom burning to death and crying for him to get out of there. Jet pressed the palm of his hand to his temple and unconsciously grabbed his hair with a closed fist. “Mom…” he whispered and ran up the stairs. “Mom!” He cried out as he reached the top, he could see her in the kitchen. Her back turned to him, her face hidden.

He just about reached her; his hand stretched forward and for a moment he thought it was okay. But that vanished from him and the world slipped away from his feet. Everything around him burst into flames, gnawing at his brain and devouring her again.

* * *

 

“No!” He screamed and lurched forward, sitting upright in bed, an uncomfortable but so familiar bed. Jet’s body was drenched in sweat, the morning was humid and his sheets were soaked. He looked over at his bedside to the weapons that lay there, two hook-swords he’d learned to use and master.

“Jet?” Smellerbee peered inside his room, concern written on her face, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jet sighed and dropped back, eyes lingering on the ceiling. “Just a nightmare.”

She didn’t leave as he’d expected, instead she sat down on a chair near the door and waited quietly before speaking again, “Wanna talk about it?”

He rolled his head to look at her, his eyes half-lidded with exhaustion and he tightened his expression before letting it slip into that lying smile. “Why? Did it sound that bad?”

“Yeah,” she didn’t beat around the bush with that one, “I’ve never heard you yell like that before.”

Jet furrowed his brow as even Longshot poked his head inside, a concerned expression on the other boy’s face. “I’m alright,” Jet pushed himself up again and turned to lean his back against the wall. “It was weird… I was in this other world, I woke up from a nightmare in that one too…”

“What was the first nightmare?”

He shook his head, “I… I don’t know. I think I remember-“

_“We’re not gonna leave you.”_

Jet shuddered, he suddenly felt very cold.

_“There’s no-…. We’ll take-… he’s our leader.”_

He pressed his hands to his forehead and could see her, Katara’s face as she looked down at him with such fear and worry. His chest ached and suddenly felt flooded. He coughed and Smellerbee went to his side, her hand on his forehead and then sliding back through his hair.

When had he lied down?

He heard the stretch of a bow and arrow.

* * *

 

His eyes opened slowly this time, Jet’s heart raced but the rest of him remained perfectly still. There was a careful breeze; it was cool on his skin in contrast to the heat of what sunlight reached him through the trees. It was autumn and everything was red, he could hear footsteps approaching him.

“Jet?”

He lifted his head lazily to see blue; blue pants, blue smock, blue shoes all belonging to the same dark skinned girl. Her tone wasn’t that far off from his, but she did always seem different from him. “Hey,” he offered a smile and watched as she knelt next to him. “What is it?”

She placed her hands on his stomach and a sudden sharp pain snapped through him, he winced and bit his tongue. “This isn’t good.” She sounded distant.

Something was wrong, Jet couldn’t sit up, he couldn’t move at all.

It was a nightmare, he told himself. He’d woken up in a nightmare and he’d wake again.

His heart raced.

Someone said something about going but Katara refused.  _“We’re not gonna leave you.”_  That broken, pained voice made his eyes water.

_“There’s no time, just go.”_

No.

Don’t leave me.

His chest hurt more and he tried to breathe, it wracked his body and he tasted blood instead. He heard a rumble around him and watched with horrified eyes as the ceiling caved in on all of them.

* * *

 

Jet stared at the night sky with no breath in his lungs. Everything hurt but the pain ebbed slowly. “Help…” he wheezed quietly and closed his eyes.

“What?” It was a boy’s voice, he knew who it was.

Jet lifted his gaze to look at a pale, scarred face leering down at him. “Li…” he furrowed his brow and reached for him. “What’s happening?”

Li took his hand and held it awkwardly, not sure what to do with it. He never was good with physical affection. “We’re heading to Ba Sing Se,” he smiled down and Jet knew it was wrong.

“Will I ever get there?” Jet asked softly as the pain shuddered through his ribcage and pierced his lungs. But the ache subsided again, just as it had risen.

“Of course you will.”

“Will you be there with me?” Jet knew better. He knew better than to question it. He knew what Li was. Or did he? Was that part of a nightmare? “I dreamt you were a firebender.”

Li was silent and nodded, “How’d that go?”

“I got arrested.”

They both laughed a little and Li lied down next to him. “What if I was a good firebender?”

It was Jet’s turn for silence and he shook his head, “I’d try to kill you… I’d throw myself and my future away like a sick man with nothing better waiting for him.” Tears slipped down his face and he reached up to wipe them away, “I wish I wouldn’t.” He whispered and Li squeezed his other hand tightly.

“It’s too late, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jet dropped his arm and looked up to where Li rested beside him, “but if I could change it I’d follow you. I would have lov-“

“Shh.” Li hushed him and he listened.

He felt the earth beneath him rumble and heard the pull of a bowstring.

* * *

 

The dirt beneath him felt so vivid, his fingertips were touching stone and it felt so real. He could see the roof of a cave above him, dim green lighting all around. There were footsteps, footsteps away from him and footsteps toward him. Jet opened his eyes again and looked up at Smellerbee, her hand petting through his hair and her eyes brimming with tears but they hadn’t quite fallen. Longshot stood above them both, his bow in hand.

“Hey,” Jet spoke hoarsely and realized just how hard it really was to breathe. “Do you know what I’d… what I’d do… if I could?”

“Don’t say that,” Smellerbee’s lip quivered, she was always so strong, he admired that. But he didn’t listen to her.

“I’d make it right.” He flinched and hissed in air with a grimace on his face before relaxing again. “I’d rebuild…that town… I’d find Li and… and apologize.” He felt his eyes welling up but he forced it back, leaders don’t cry. “And I’d make it… make it right with you guys. I’m s… sorry.”

“You don’t have to,” her tears slipped out now, he barely felt them as they dropped to his skin.

“Never be sorry.” Longshot looked down at him and Jet saw the intensity behind those solemn eyes.

Jet smiled and rested his head back, the rim of blackness around his vision slowly crept in. When had it gotten so far? He could barely see them. He struggled to inhale and nodded slowly, “Thank you.” He tried to breathe again-


End file.
